Wright Way Policy

5801 Cell Phone Usage Policy | Wright Way Policy

Cell Phone Usage Policy

Policy Number: 5801

Date Issued:September 2004

References: Office of the ControllerAuthority: Vice President of Business and Fiscal Affairs, Office of the President

5801.1General Policy

The University recognizes that certain job functions require that an employee be accessible when away from the office or during times outside scheduled working hours. For this reason, the University will provide cell phones to select employees.

5801.2Criteria for Assignment of Cell Phones

University cell phones may be assigned to employees provided at least one of the following two criteria is met. Simple convenience is not a criterion for cell phone need. It is the responsibility of the dean, director, or department chair to make the above determination as to whether a university cell phone is warranted and the type of cell phone plan that is required (see "Cell Plans"). If the employee in question is at a job level commensurate with a dean, director, or department chair, then their immediate supervisor shall make the determination.

The job function of the employee requires considerable time outside of their assigned office or work area and it is important to the University that they are accessible during those times,

The job function of the employee requires them to be accessible outside of scheduled or normal working hours.

5801.3Guidelines of Cell Plans

All university provided cell phones are to be acquired through the Telecommunications Services Department. No department is authorized to acquire university cell phones independently without the written approval of Telecommunications.

When receiving the university cell phone, the employee and approving party (dean, director, or chair) is required to sign a "statement of receipt and responsibility for Wright State cellular phone."

The University recognizes that cell phone needs will vary by employee, therefore Telecommunications will have several plans available from which the department can choose.

It will be the responsibility of the dean, director, or department chair to approve the plan that best meets the employee's needs at the most economical price to the University.

The chosen plan should be monitored and adjusted as appropriate should needs change and also to ensure the University is participating in the most efficient plan (i.e. not paying for too many unused minutes or excessive personal minutes).

Any such changes must be approved by the appropriate dean, director, or department chair.

5801.4Reimbursement for Personal Calls

University provided cell phones are intended to be used for official university business.

It is recognized, however, that it is impractical to limit the use of university cell phones to 100% business use. For example, employees cannot always control incoming phone calls, the determination of whether a specific call is business-related or personal can be open to interpretation based upon specific facts and circumstances, and most calling plans also provide for free or unlimited calls during specific times of the day or week.

Therefore, personal use is not prohibited, but the University expects employees to exercise prudent judgment in keeping personal calls kept to a minimum.

Because personal use is inevitable in most cases, and it is not always practical to reimburse on a call by call basis, the University will require that any employee with a university cell phone reimburse to the University fifty percent (one half) of all charges in excess of the standard plan amount each month to reflect all personal use for that month.

If an employee feels that a more reasonable reflection of personal use in a given month is to calculate personal usage by the minute, then an employee may add up all minutes used for personal calls each month and multiply that sum by the average minute charge for all calls that month. The average minute charge for all calls is calculated by taking the total monthly bill and dividing it by the number of total minutes used for the month (business and personal).

Reimbursement should occur no less than once every three months utilizing a cash remittance voucher. For all months that an employee does not exceed the standard monthly plan amount, there is no reimbursement due the University. For this reason it is imperative that the dean, director, or department chair review the appropriateness of each cell plan on a regular basis to ensure that the majority of minutes utilized for a given plan are business and that personal minutes within a plan are primarily incidental.

5801.5Reimbursement When Using a Personal Cell Phone

Should it be determined that a cell phone is warranted but usage is expected to be minimal or low, the employee may choose to obtain a personal cell phone. In this circumstance or any other circumstance whereby an employee utilizes a personal cell phone to conduct university business, the employee will be reimbursed for all business calls that are transacted on the personal cell phone.

The method utilized to calculate a reimbursement for business use of personal cell phones as follows:

Divide the total monthly bill less all long distance, roaming, and tax (tax may never be reimbursed) charges by the total number of minutes used that month to derive at a minute charge.

Multiply the minute charge by the number of WSU business minutes.

If applicable and ascertainable, add any specific roaming or long distance charges attributable to the WSU business calls.

Do not include tax. (No tax may be reimbursed)

Attach a copy of the cell phone bill highlighting the WSU business calls. Document the business nature of those calls.

Show the calculation of how the requested reimbursement was determined somewhere within the documentation.

Submit reimbursement requests no less than every three months.

5801.6Removal of Cell Phones

A university cell phone is the property of the University and as such may be removed from the employee's possession at any time. Abuse of university cell phone privileges, upon the discretion of the dean, director, department chair, or immediate supervisor will result in loss of university cell phone privileges.

Wright Way Policy

Robert J. Sweeney

Executive Vice President for Planning and Secretary to the Board of Trustees